Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-12-22

that of the Mauser is eleven millimeters
or .432 inch.
THE LEBEL RIFLE.
The Lebel rifle. adopted by France, IL
of only .3O1 inch calber, and carries
eight cartridges in a magazine under the
barrel Its sharp pointed steel bullet,
about the size of n pea, driven at y won
derful velocity by new smokeless pow
der, has great range and accuracy The
soldier can carry nearly twice as n tny o:
its small cartridges as Of the OLD style.
The trajectory is almost fat for range
customary, with a consequent gain il
precision; the recoil is scarcely percept!-
BILE, and even the noise of the report is
trifiing. The French Pralon rifle is an
other remarkable small bore, Of .3l5
caliber.
Italy has small caliber rifle under con-
sideration in the invention Of Capt. Freddi.
1t is OF .325 inch bore, and elects the empty
cartridge, opens the chamber and cocks
the piece. The Pieri is Of about the same
bore, but of greater muzzle velocity,
this gun and the Lebel and the Hebler
being the most remarkable Of the recent
inventions in that respect. The Hebler
is very light, and is Of only .296 inch
caliber
The Schulhof repeater, the invention OF
an Austrian, has been tried with much
thoroughness in England. 1t takes ten
cartridges, introduced from cardboard
box, and can also be used as a single
loader. 1t would cost less than the Eng
lish Martini Henry. But England, out Of
the large number Of magazine guns open
TO her, is trying by preference the i'm
proved Lee and the Lee Burton. The
Lee, SO fiyorably known in the United
States, has a detachable magazine, and
this is preferred by some experts; but the
British apparently decide in favor OF hay
ing the hopper fixed, lest the movable one
should he dropped in the heat Of action.
They follow the movement for small
calibers by fixing on a 81 bore, whatever
the selection of the magazine rifle system.
The large charge Of compressed powder
and long bullet will secure high velocity,
fiat trajectory and accuracy Of shooting.
Great Britain has had an experience some
thing like Germany's, since she had Just
introduced the new Enfield Martini 40
caliber as an improvement on her Martini
Henry, which has a As bore, like our
Springfield. Over 100. 900 have been COM
pleted, with new sword bayonets, but the
small caliber will supersede them.
AUsTRIA's REPEATER.
Austria's new repeater, the Mannlicher,
fires accurately and rapidly, and can be
held at the shoulder until its series Of
cartridges are delivered. Its detachable
magazine is carried in frame which has
an ingenious apparatus for feeding the
cartridges into the barrel. In its freedom
from alteration of aim between shots and
rapidity Of loading, it resembles the Lee,
but the latter can be used as a single
loader, wh2e the Mannlicher cannot.
Austria is also among the recent converts
to the small caliber, which will allow
more cartridges than the original Mann
licher. The Styria mandatory has re-
ceived orders TO deliver no more Of the
large caliber rifles.
Other well known systems are the
HotchkiSs, ChafTee Reece. Winchester,
Colt and Spencer of American invention,
wilh the kropatschek, Netterli, Jarmann
and others in Europe. Switzerland was
the first country to fully arm her troops
with repeaters, adopting the Eetterli,
which is the heaviest Of all the magazine
guns, weighing ten pounds eight ounces,
or even SIX ounces more than the Mauser.
1t caliber is Ala. The Jarmann is the
repeater of Norway and Sweden, and is Of
about the weight Of the Mauser, with
high muzzle velocity, and the smallest
caliber, .397, among the older magazine
arms. The Kropatschek has for years
been used as a repeater in the French
navy; but for her land forces France had
made notifications rather Of the Gras
rifle. on the system Of Lee. Robin, Picard
and others, prior to her selection Of the
LebcL The Picard seems little affected
by the presence of dust or sand. Portugal
has the Guedes, a modification Of the
Kropatschek, with a small caliber, .323,
and high velocity Italy was very rapidly
arming her troops with q Vetterli,
changed into a repeater on the Vital
system. but will be found devoting her
self hcnceforth to u small caliber arm.
1t is not alone the advantage to be
gained by tremendous volume of fire Mt
critical moment which makes all these
and other nations so eager TO secure the
best possible repeating gun. They thor
oughly appreciate the vast effect on the
soldiers morale of understanding that he
carries at least as good a weapon as the
one in the hands of tbs enemy.-New
York Sun.